Octopus?

[AlexandCoral]

Yesterday, my husband Alex and I picked up our first shipment of live rock from tbsaltwater.com. This morning, when I got up and checked the tank, I found what I'm certain is a very small octopus stuck to the glass on the front of the tank. It's very very small, and seems to be white with black spots....at first I mistook it for a very small brittle star, until I noticed it had suckers and a head.

I am totally lost as to what to do. We never planned for an octopus and don't know anything about feeding or caring for one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Coral

 

[Len]

:welcome:

It could be a hydroid, but if it is indeed a tiny octopus, I'd remove it from the tank. Octopus aren't good pets to keep unless you're setting up a dedicated tank for them. They catch fish and crustaceans, turn over rocks, escape through tiny openings in the tank, etc. They also have relatively short life spans. I'd remove (whether it's a octopus or hydroid).

 

[Anonymous]

Lots of really good information on this website, and there is a a Bboard with experienced people:

http://www.tonmo.com/

 

[AlexandCoral]

I looked at it closely and Alex had a look and took some 'photos when he got home from work and it's definitely an octopus. If it stretched out it's tentacles, it would be maybe a centimetre across.

 

[TheJGMProject]

wow that's crazy. pics would be nice, but get that thing out of your tank. 8O

 

[AlexandCoral]

Pix of the teeny octopus can be seen here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/afbwasserman/octopus

I know some of them seem fuzzy, but even with the macro lens this thing was hard to photograph.

We are currently setting up a 135 gallon tank and it's lost in there. Perhaps a refugium would be the best idea?

 

[Len]

Yep, that's an octopus alright Remove it while you can. Or if you leave any part of the top of your tank open, it'll probably escape on its own in due time. Of course, it'll just die, stink, and dry up somewhere in your house

 

[Anonymous]

Hows he doing?

I would set up a species only tank so you can keep and eye on him and make sure he is eating. Any live shrimp or crab will make a good meal to start, and you can prolly wean him onto dead, fresh shrimp.

www.tonmo.com is really the best place to get ceph info, but do let us know how it goes!

 

[Anonymous]

That is cool.

 

[Anonymous]

I seem to remember someone with a monster tank in the UK adding a small octopus to his tank to keep populations of crabs/mantis down. Definitely not advisable for a small tank though, and certainly not one with any small fish/shrimp/hermits.

 

[Anonymous]

I seem to remember someone with a monster tank in the UK adding a small octopus to his tank to keep populations of crabs/mantis down. Definitely not advisable for a small tank though, and certainly not one with any small fish/shrimp/hermits.

Terrible idea for any tank and for any octopus. Some people used to do stuff like this, but in the ceph world its kinda like blood letting.

 

[Anonymous]

I seem to remember someone with a monster tank in the UK adding a small octopus to his tank to keep populations of crabs/mantis down. Definitely not advisable for a small tank though, and certainly not one with any small fish/shrimp/hermits.

Terrible idea for any tank and for any octopus. Some people used to do stuff like this, but in the ceph world its kinda like blood letting.

Thanks for the education (I mean that in a good way, in case it sounds a bit defensive).

 

[Anonymous]

Some of the UK ceph guys make Tang Police look like girl scouts.

 

[Len]

I was accosted by a gang of Girl Scouts this weekend trying to peddle their sugary confections on me. I'll take the Tang Police any day.

 

[Anonymous]

Girl scouts came to my door to sell me cookies. They seemed shocked that I said 'no thanks'.

 

[Anonymous]

Some of the UK ceph guys make Tang Police look like girl scouts.

:lol:

Thanks for the heads-up.

Found the culprit btw.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=83

 

[Anonymous]

Girl scouts came to my door to sell me cookies. They seemed shocked that I said 'no thanks'.

How dare you! As the parent of two girls scouts I am offended! :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Girl scouts came to my door to sell me cookies. They seemed shocked that I said 'no thanks'.

How dare you! As the parent of two girls scouts I am offended! :wink:

HA!

I was very nice to them when I said no, but they seemed confused. Like 'no one ever says no'.
If your girls came to my door I would buy from them.